The company says it is the first to offer a single solution for provisioning NFC applications over-the-air, regardless of how the customer’s NFC functionality has been implemented.

OVER THE AIR: Sicap can provision apps regardless of how NFC functionality has been implemented

Over-the-air provisioning specialist Sicap has announced it can now offer customers the ability to provision NFC applications regardless of whether the end-user’s NFC functionality is built into their phone, their SIM or a MicroSD card.

“The battle by device and SIM manufacturers to bind operators to their technologies has until now hindered the launch of large scale contactless payment services, despite the incentives of a lucrative business model and a revolution in usage of the mobile phone,” says Sicap. “The main issue for operators is that conflicting interests have resulted in the NFC secure element, essential for bank transactions, being embedded either in the device, or in an SD (secure digital) card, or in the SIM.”

“Our expertise in key areas of the NFC ecosystem comes from proven implementation of over-the-air platforms around the world, today totalling over 50 networks,” says Stéphane Jayet, Sicap’s head of device and SIM products. “Today we can proudly claim to be the only business enabler with dual in-house device and SIM expertise. In 2009 and 2010, many of our operator customers are conducting NFC trials. Sicap will actively support them in their regional context.”